Nursery World - Working with parents: The dummy debate

Picking up the ongoing debate about the use of dummies, Sue Asquith explores the pros and cons and how settings can follow best practice while respecting parents’ choices

Dummies can help to soothe a baby, but prolonged use may affect speech and language development PHOTO Adobe Stock

There are mixed messages about the use of dummies. For such a seemingly small object, they create all manner of debate. Parents and childcare practitioners often ask me about using dummies for babies and toddlers and when it’s best to break the habit. I spoke with several early years professionals before writing this article.

They all agreed that dummies do have a place if they are used properly. So, as well as discussing whether using a dummy is a good or bad idea, we possibly need to consider the question of when and how long they are used for.

WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS

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